Fate/stay night

Fate/stay night (フェイト／ステイナイト, Feito/sutei naito?) is a Japanese erogevisual novel game created by TYPE-MOON, which was originally released on January 30, 2004. It is TYPE-MOON's first commercial work, following its transition from a doujin soft visual novel group.

Set in the same universe as previous TYPE-MOON releases, it is among the most well-known and popular visual novels.[1] It was ported to several platforms, and its three narrative routes—Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel—received numerous adaptations in manga, animated movies and animated series format. While the original work never received an official English translation, numerous unofficial patches were produced by fans and its adaptations gathered a large audience outside of Japan.

Fate/stay night spawned a number of other works within the Fate series, beginning with its sequel Fate/hollow ataraxia, and introduced fan-favorite characters used in subsequent works, even when they did not take place in the same continuity as stay night.

Contents

Fate/stay night takes place in 2004, and its beginning happens at around the same time as the events of Tsukihime end.[2][3] Fuyuki City is the setting for a secret and violent war among competing magi. For the past two centuries, seven magi were gathered and engage in a Battle Royale, each gambling his or her own life to obtain the Holy Grail, a legendary chalice capable of granting wishes. The past four Holy Grail Wars have typically occurred every sixty years, but the fifth war has eerily started prematurely, only ten years after the fourth war.

Each magus, better known as a Master, is aided by one of the seven summoned spiritual familiars known as Servants, who are the reincarnations of legendary souls from all across time. These resurrected Heroic Spirits possess superhuman characteristics and wield powerful artifacts or abilities called Noble Phantasms. A Noble Phantasm's hidden abilities may be released by invoking its true name, but casual brandishing of a Noble Phantasm is best avoided, for symbolic Noble Phantasms usually belie a Servant's identity, diminishing their competitive advantage. Specific legends may be summoned with the aid of catalysts, which are artifacts, ideas, or experiences similar to or of value to the desired Servant. Only one Servant can be summoned in each war from one of seven classes: Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Rider, Assassin, and Caster.

The Holy Grail is a spiritual artifact, so only astral entities, such as Servants, are capable of touching it. This forces Masters and Servants to cooperate with each other against rival pairs, even if a situation entails fighting to the death. A Master can control a Servant with three Command Spells, which are crystallized miracles issued by the Holy Grail that manifest on a Master's hand. When activated, a Command Spell permits the Servant to accomplish an incredible feat, or permits the Masters to issue an irrevocable and absolute order to the Servant. In the event of a Master's demise, a Servant may choose to bind him or herself to another Master. If a Servant is slain, a Master may ally with a wayward Servant, or pursue sanctuary with the Holy Grail War's impartial supervisor, who is traditionally a delegate of the Church.

Fate/stay night chronicles a two-week period in the life of Shirou Emiya, an amateur mechanic who attends a school called Homurahara Gakuen in Fuyuki City.

Ten years ago, Shirou was caught in a massive fire that incinerated his parents and consumed a large portion of the city. As he was dying, an enigmatic man named Kiritsugu Emiya discovered, saved, and adopted him. The two maintain a distant relationship because of Kiritsugu's frequent departures from Fuyuki City.

One moonlit night, Kiritsugu and Shirou have a discussion outside their home, and Shirou learns that Kiritsugu was actually a mage. Through this conversation, Shirou learns of Kiritsugu's failed ambition to become a "Hero of Justice" (正義の味方, Seigi no Mikata?), a guardian of mankind who could protect the weak and innocent. Touched by Kiritsugu's conviction, Shirou decides to achieve that distant ideal, much to Kiritsugu's chagrin. To do this, Shirou pleads with a begrudging Kiritsugu to teach him magecraft, but Shirou makes no progress in almost any the fundamental magecraft disciplines.

Kiritsugu warns his son that the life of a magus that leads to destruction, but if he is truly set on benefiting people, he should apply his knowledge and hone his craft in secret. After Kiritsugu dies, Shirou becomes frustrated with his progress, feeling inadequate about his good deeds through magecraft. Shirou becomes unsure how to orient his future.

After cleaning his school's kyudo (archery) dojo late one night, Shirou stumbles upon two Servants, Archer and Lancer, battling in the school courtyard. To preserve the secrecy of the war, Lancer chases Shirou and pierces him in the heart with a spear. Shirou's classmate Rin Tohsaka finds him bleeding and near death, and she uses a heirloom filled with concentrated magical energy to resuscitate him. Shaken and dazed, Shirou goes back to his home, but Lancer attacks him again. Shirou weakly defends himself but is overwhelmed by the powerful Servant's attack. Shirou falls into a storage room, and being cornered, he prepares for the worst. But before Lancer can inflict a fatal blow, a young woman in armor blocks Lancer's spear. She drives Lancer away, introduces herself as Saber, and greets Shirou with the words: I ask of you, are you my Master?

Shirou is the main character of the story. He is a serious yet helpful, hardworking, and honest teenager. His hobbies include fixing a variety of broken things, from VCRs to stoves, as well as cooking and cleaning. He has some slight talent with magecraft, though he was discouraged by his foster father Emiya Kiritsugu from improving his gifts. He is initially confused about the Holy Grail War and attempts to irrationally shield others from danger, including his own Servant, Saber.

She is Shirou's Servant, an agile but powerful warrior. Loyal, independent, and reserved, Saber acts coldly but is actually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. Her class is considered the "Most Outstanding", with excellent ratings in all categories. Since her Master cannot effectively provide her with magical energy, she minimizes her activity to preserve what she has. Saber is frustrated by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, believing his erratic and reckless behavior will jeopardize her chances of winning the Holy Grail War.

A model student and idol of Shirou's school who is secretly a magus and Master in the Holy Grail War. She is a descendant from a long line of magi, and though she lacks a formal magecraft education, she is extremely powerful in her own right. Her father was killed in the fourth Holy Grail War, and she has trained since his death to succeed him. She is perceptive, resourceful and avidly competitive. She tried to summon a Saber-class Servant, but she accidentally called Archer instead.

His true identity is that of Shirou Emiya of an alternate timeline from that of Fate/stay night who made a contract with the world and became the Heroic Spirit EMIYA. He acts as a Counter Guardian for the world as payment for the contract. He is summoned because he still has the jewel pendant that Rin used to save his life after Lancer stabbed his heart. He considers Shirou Emiya (his past self) a target to eliminate in the hope he can erase his existence and escape his fate as a Counter Guardian.

A young German aristocrat, she traveled to Japan to participate in the Holy Grail War as a Master. Illyasviel has an angelic appearance and an unsurpassed degree of magical power. She lives in a castle on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, accompanied only by her Servant and two maids. Illyasviel asks those she feels comfortable around to simply call her "Ilya".

The Servant of Ilya, who appears as a swarthy giant with adamantine skin and gross brawn. He wields a colossal stone axe-club, and is capable of causing massive destruction with the mere backlash of his swings. As a Berserker, he is stripped of his sanity and reason, acting feral and animalistic in combat. Berserkers are praised as members of the "strongest" class, though they are difficult to control and always turn on their Masters. Ilya appears to have little trouble managing him.

A student in her first year of high school, sister of Shinji Matou, and Shirou's underclassman. After Shirou's father Kiritsugu died, Sakura often visited Shirou's home to help him with his daily chores. Though Shinji is from a family of magi, he asserts that she has no knowledge of her family's craft or history. Sakura is outwardly shy and timid, but possesses great inner strength. She has a long standing and obvious crush on Shirou Emiya.

Sakura's older brother, and a long-time friend of Shirou. Shinji is very popular as vice-captain of the archery dojo despite being chauvinistic and a narcissist. Like Rin, he is of a distinguished lineage of magi, though the Matou blood has thinned and no longer produces heirs naturally capable of magecraft. Shinji feels uncomfortable with his sister's daily visits to Shirou's home. He has an open crush on Rin, but she does not return his favors.

The Servant of Shinji, first seen scouting around Homurahara Gakuen. Rider is silent, sultry, and vigilant, never hesitating to shield her Master from harm. With Shinji incapable of lending magical energy to her, she is forced to seek alternative means to augment her abilities. To compensate for her weakness, Rider employs covert battle tactics and takes full advantage of territory around her. Her weapon of choice is a pair of long iron nails fastened to opposite ends of a single chain, which she effectively thrusts from distances.

The Servant of Souichirou, she is a crafty woman who's appearance is much like a sorceress; donning a hooded cloak and a dress. She has a gift in using Divine Words that surpass regular magecraft; therefore, her prowess is beyond the capabilities of modern mages including Masters of Servants. She's bitter from her life experiences and her treatment from her previous Master, which warranted her cynical personality and tactics.

The "true" Assassin-class Servant of the 5th Holy Grail War, summoned using the body of the fake Assassin as a catalyst and becomes the Servant of Zouken Matou. He only appears in the Heaven's Feel route.

Screenshot of the original Fate/stay night title screen with English patch applied when player has completed story mode.

The gameplay of Fate/stay night requires little interaction from the player as most of the game's duration is spent on reading the text that appears, representing either dialogue between the characters or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. Often, players will come to a "decision point" where they are given the chance to choose from options displayed on the screen, typically two to three at a time. The time between these decision points is variable and during these times, gameplay pauses until a choice is made that furthers the plot in a specific direction. There are three main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience, one for each of the heroines in the story. To view all three plot lines, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and choose different choices during the decision points to progress the plot in an alternate direction.

Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel are the three branching stories found within the game. Each diverge at certain points, and depending on the player interaction, will end in one of several possible ways. The Fate scenario features Saber as the main heroine. In Unlimited Blade Works, Rin Tohsaka is the main female lead, but the plot focuses on her Servant, Archer. Heaven's Feel expands on the dark history of Sakura Matou and her family.

There are forty bad endings that can be reached within the game, and each has a section called Tiger Dojo (タイガー道場, Taigā Dōjō?) following it. It features alternate versions of Taiga Fujimura and Illyasviel von Einzbern elaborating on the endings and how to avoid them. The majority of the content has little to do with the actual endings, instead focusing on the skits performed between the two of them.[4]Einzbern Consultation Room is a prequel story that ends with Taiga preparing to establish her own dojo to avoid all the bad endings.

Before Kinoko Nasu wrote Fate/stay night, he claims he was a big fan of the Samurai Resurrection manga, which involved battles between dead historical figures from around Japan.[5] Nasu first began writing 'Fate/stay night in college and had not intended it to be a game. Initially, Nasu only wrote what would become the game's Fate storyline however the game went on to have three storylines, the Fate scenario being one of them.

In his early drafts, Saber was a man, and the protagonist was a girl with glasses. This early draft was embodied in the short original video animation (OVA) Fate/Prototype, which was released with the final volume of the Carnival Phantasm OVA series. Nasu set aside the project and went on to found TYPE-MOON with artist Takashi Takeuchi.

After the success of their first visual novel Tsukihime in 2000 TYPE-MOON transitioned from a dojin soft organization to a commercial organization. Nasu and Takeuchi decided to turn the old Fate story into a visual novel as TYPE-MOON's first commercial product. In the beginning, Nasu was worried that because the main character was a girl, the story might not work as a bishōjo game. It was artist Takeuchi who suggested switching the genders of the protagonist and Saber to fit the game market.

There were originally to be four heroines with four routes. Saber and Rin would have comprised the first half, met in the middle of the story, and then it would have split into four routes from there. Their stories were written in one go, so Nasu felt he needed to "flip the story over." Within the theme of Fate/stay night, Saber's route is posing a question, Rin's is the answer, and Sakura's is a practical application. Ilya was one of the heroines originally, and would have been part of the practical application with Sakura. Rather than only choosing to become Sakura's hero or fulfill his ideals as an Ally of Justice on the ninth day of Heaven's Feel, Shirou would have also had an option to become Ilya's hero instead.

Due to the length, they thought to release Saber and Rin as Fate/stay night and Sakura and Ilya in a separate release titled "Fate/other night", but they thought it would have been too expensive. IIya's route was instead combined with Heaven's Feel because they decided to include Sakura's route in Fate/stay night. There was also a Caster route in development, but it was discarded entirely with the exception of the plot regarding the cooperation with Rider that is continued in a portion of the actual game.[6][7] While not present in-game, the script files contain a joke about Shirou teaming up with Shinji.[8] The Unlimited Blade Works (route) was written in the preview section of the 2001 winter Comiket booklet.[9]

While Nasu was designing parameter rules and various attributes in Fate, he was hoping to make another game similar to a wargame like Romance of the Three Kingdoms would be interesting.[10]

Fate/stay night was released in Japan on January 30, 2004 for Windows PCs.

Fate/stay night was later released on the PS2 platform, originally scheduled to be released in late 2006. However, it was postponed until April 19, 2007 known as Fate/stay night Réalta Nua. Fate, Unlimited Blade Works, and Heaven's Feel are the three branching storylines found within the game. They were released separately through digital download on Windows (but as the Réalta Nua version) in the beginning of 2012

TYPE-MOON Fes. announced a PlayStation Vita port of Réalta Nua released in Japan on November 29, 2012.

On 30 January 2014, TYPE-MOON released a special bundle for Windows PC, only available until the 29th January 2015, to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Fate franchise. The bundle comes with Fate/stay night, Fate/hollow ataraxia, Fate 10th Anniversary Art Book「Fate/Art Chronicle」 and Fate/side material. This bundle was rereleased on June 28 2019.[11]

In 2007 Type-MOON released a CERO C-rated version of Fate/stay night. This version provided voice acting but the sex scenes (colloquially known as “H-scenes”) and other explicit sexual references were removed due to censorship and the target audience. They are replaced with “sympathization” scenes involving alternative mana sharing processes: in Fate, Shirou transplants his Magic Circuit in Saber's body to repair their flawed connection; in Unlimited Blade Works, Rin transfers her Magic Crest to Shirou to create a link she can use to provide him magic energy; in Heaven's Feel, Sakura's lust is replaced by a craving for blood, and additionally the phallic appearance of Zouken's worms is modified and wording has been changed to tone down Shinji's attempted rape on Sakura. The updated re-release also provided a new epilogue to the Fate route, called Last Episode, accessible through the main menu once all five endings have been unlocked. The PS2 theme was performed by Number 201 feat.MAKI - Ougon no Kagayaki (黄金の輝き?, lit. "Golden Glow").

The PlayStation Vita port of Réalta Nua received a new opening animation by anime studio Ufotable. Earthmind provided three themes for each route:

Fate/stay night

Type

Kanji

Romaji

Studio

Director

Writer

Music

Kenji Kawai

Character Design

Megumi Ishihara

Art Design

Takuma Mochizuki

Release Information

Original Run

January 7, 2006 – June 17, 2006

Number of Episodes

24

Studio Deen made a television anime adaptation of the Fate route. The episodes originally aired between January 2006 and June 2006 in Japan. The title was given a special summary released in two episodes called Fate/stay night TV reproduction.Studio Deen went on to make a movie adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route. It was titled Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works movie and released in Japanese theaters on January 23, 2010. The staff from the anime television series returned to work on the film, including director Yuji Yamaguchi, with most of the voice cast also reprising their roles. The film earned 280 million yen at the Japanese Box Office. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the Unlimited Blade Works film and releasaed it it on DVD and Blu-ray on June 12th, 2012 featuring an English dub produced at Bang Zoom!

Romaji

Studio

Director

Writer

Music

Character Design

Atsushi IkariyaHisayuki TabataTomonori Sudou

Art Design

Koji Eto

Release Information

Original Run

October 4, 2014 – June 27, 2015

Number of Episodes

25

Prologue + (Season 1: 12) + (Season 2: 13) + Special

ufotable made an anime adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route. The first season premiered December 27, 2014, and the second premiered on April 4, 2015. Takahiro Miura directed the series, and Atsushi Ikariya, Tomonori Sudou, and Hisayuki Tabata adapted Takashi Takeuchi's original character designs. The storyline features original content scripted by Kinoko Nasu, the original writer of Fate/stay night.[12]The series was originally planned to adapt the Fate route, but it was changed to Unlimited Blade Works after production began. For the first season, Mashiro Ayano's "Ideal White" was the opening song and Kalafina's "believe" was the ending song. For the second season, Aimer's "Brave Shine" was the opening song and Kalafina's "Ring Your BelI" was the ending song. The Realta Nua visual novel version of Fate was instead set to be released for free on IOS and Android devices afterward.[13]

Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel I. presage flower

Type

Kanji

Romaji

Studio

Director

Tomonori Sudou

Writer

Akira Hiyama

Music

Yuki Kajiura

Character Design

Atsushi IkariyaHisayuki TabataTomonori Sudou

Art Design

Koji Eto

Release Information

Original Run

October 14, 2017

Number of Episodes

1

ufotable also announced they would be making a movie adaptation of the Heaven's Feel route. Hideyuki Fukasawa will be the composer. During the AnimeJapan 2016 it was announced it would be composed by three films. The first movie was released on Oct 14, 2017.[14] The second movie was set to be released in 2018 but is later confirmed to be released on January 12, 2019.[15]

On October 28, 2005, TYPE-MOON released a sequel to Fate/stay night, titled Fate/hollow ataraxia. Its plot is set half a year after the events of Fate/stay night and features new characters such as Avenger, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, and Caren Hortensia, alongside returning characters such as Shirou Emiya, Saber and Rin Tohsaka

On November 22, 2006, TYPE-MOON announced a new installment in the Fate/stay night franchise, titled Fate/Zero. A novel prequel detailing the events of the 4th Holy Grail War 10 years prior to the 5th one told in Fate/stay night. In contrast to Fate/stay night, Fate/Zero is a series of light novels instead of a visual novel, and is told in a third person narrative that follows the actions of multiple characters.

The series is a collaboration between TYPE-MOON and a fellow developer, Nitroplus. The first volume was released on December 29, 2006. The second volume was released on March 31, 2007. The third volume was released on July 27, 2007. The fourth and final volume was released on December 29, 2007, along with the Fate/Zero Original Image Soundtrack "Return to Zero."

The Fate/stay nightmanga illustrated by Dat Nishiwaki, began serialization in the manga magazine Shounen Ace, published by Kadokawa Shoten, on December 26, 2005. Although it is titled to be an adaptation of the Unlimited Blade Works route, it is more of an adaption of a combination between the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works routes while pooling some elements of the Heaven's Feel route. The English manga has been translated by Viz Media and available digitally on BookWalker Global.

On 3 April 2015 A second Fate/stay night manga has been announced. The manga is based on the Heaven's feel route and is illustrated by Task Ohna, who also illustrated the manga Hyōka.

Himuro's Universe - Fate/school life is a comedy 4-koma manga revolving around the normal life at school of the minor characters of Fate/stay night and Fate/hollow ataraxia, specifically the character Kane Himuro, classmate of Fate/stay night protagonist Shirou Emiya. It is serialized Manga 4-koma Kings Palette and currently eleven volumes have been published by Ichijinsha.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA written and illustrated by Hiroyama Hiroshi it was first serialized in Comp Ace in 2008 and later release into two bound volumes. A manga featuring alternate-universe Illya as a protagonist.

https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518431044454711296
Ah, but how overgrown this house has become after ten years. Rin must have thought that hiring a gardener was too much of a luxury. But it's okay; in ten minutes, a pro butler will arrive who'll help with not just the garden, but with all kinds of housework!

https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518434943903363072
Command Spells. Rights to three absolute orders.
In short, a very powerful billing item! You can only use it thrice, but just once will allow almost all impossibilities to happen! But Servants are already way above the Master's level to begin with, so you only leave some for when it's incredibly important to *******; this is fundamental knowledge for the Holy Grail War!

https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518435550965927938
Once a Master disappears, the Servant has to use this "keystone" to remain in existence, but will then vanish soon enough.
If the catalyst used for summoning was a relic rather than a concept, the relic can also act as a keystone, and the summoning becomes closer to perfection.

https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518438260884795392
It's a bit difficult to understand, so I'll supplement: Rin knows how many (formal) magicians there are in Fuyuki City, and that she confirmed beforehand that within the school, no magicians who are also on track to being Masters are within the school.

https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518438440447131648
Within two years, Rin had been managing the school and Fuyuki City, so she's especially unforgiving of "whoever trespassed into the school yesterday". But, well, Rin was absent yesterday, so her opponent must have went "HYAHAHA IT'S MY CHANCE".

https://twitter.com/Fate_SN_Anime/status/518441267542233088
The reasons why Rin thoughtlessly left the jewel behind are the savings (magical energy) that Rin left inside the jewel had pretty much vanished, and the regret from using up ten years worth of savings is still spinning in her head. I'm such a moron.

Tiger Dojo [Others]
A no-questions-asked Q&A corner that accompanies dead ends. Of course, since it only gives vague hints, it's not as helpful as it might seem.
There are forty episodes in total, with an overarching plot that runs from start to finish.
Even just two months before the game went gold the scenario director, art director, and chief director were conspiring to cram in more and more content. At one point there were plans to change the title card every single episode, add animations, and give Illya forty different outfits. In the end, though, they realized that if they had the time and resources to do all that they should probably spend it polishing the main game instead, and so the Tiger Dojo took on its current form.
The fact that it ended up being so lively and amusing even after being scaled back was mostly due to the chief director's efforts.
By the way, the bonus Tiger Mini-Theaters were actually supposed to be part of the main Tiger Dojo story at first.
Ah, now that I'm thinking about it, there's something nice about text-window type visual novels, don't you think? Let's make one of those next time!

Nasu: "That's right, when I finished writing the Saber and Rin route all in one go...

Nasu: "That's right, when I finished writing the Saber and Rin route all in one go, part of me thought the game wouldn't be settled unless I flipped it over. As the theme of Fate/stay night, if we assume the Saber route to be posing a question, the Rin route is the answer and the Sakura route is a practical application. In the beginning there were plans for an Illya route, but if we were to add it, the game would have wound up being incredibly huge. So we had this plan to release the Saber route and Rin route as "Fate/stay night", and the Illya route and Sakura route as "Fate/other night". But when we thought of the 8800 yen price, we decided we should include the Sakura route after all, so in the end, we decided to combine the Illya route and Sakura route into one route. So, although it had been finished during 2002, we took more time to reorganize the plot in January or February of the following year."

Scrapped Routes [Others]
Literally, the scrapped ideas about route.
"FATE" was, originally, planned to have 4 heroines with 4 routes.
The first part would be temporarily playing either Saber or Rin, the two would meet at the middle part, and the last part would proceed into 4 routes...... or like so, it was made into a very confusing plot.
The first of the scrapped routes was, the well-known Ilya route.
The Caster route has completely extinguished, but the plot regarding a cooperation with Rider is continued in a portion of the actual game.
If there was the Ilya route, there would have been a choice in the 9th day of Sakura route which would have chosen to be not the hero of justice, nor Sakura's hero, but Ilya's hero. Unfortunately, the possibility has disappeared in the actual game.

"Yay, I'll cooperate"
"Really?"
"Of course. Betraying Tohsaka and selling her out, betrayed by Sakura and getting sold out, the Baka-Nii-chans are now born!"
"...? I don't get your high tension, but does that mean I can trust you?"
"Yeah! But I'll betray you in the end!"
...So, the 20million-powers route with Shin-chan starts here.
Well, it would if we had the time.
"Eject!"
Optimus Prime will appear too!?

Unlimited Blade Works [Others]
The title of Rin's route, also the subtitle of certain chapters of Fate route.
It was written in the preview section of the 2001 winter Comiket booklet, but how many people in Japan actually paid attention to it !?

Q: Looking at the parameter rules and various attributes in Fate, I got the feeling that it was something that could be made into a game outside the visual novel genre. Were you hoping to make another type of game as well?

Q: Looking at the parameter rules and various attributes in Fate, I got the feeling that it was something that could be made into a game outside the visual novel genre. Were you hoping to make another type of game as well?

A: Yes, a simulation game. I think a wargame like Romance of the Three Kingdoms would be interesting.

↑Twitter - I read the newtype article and at first the Fate anime was to be the Fate route (Saber route) and they made a little progress although though they changed it to UBW (Rin route) among other things. After the change, Fate was released for free, UBW became the TV anime and HF became the movie version, among other things.